Page 45 of Soul of a Witch

Like a beacon in my bloody, rapidly morphing vision, a silver light twinkled. It was distant…so, so far away…but I could reach it. I could crawl…

“You will not escape me, witch. You are already mine. You cannot exorcise that which is already a part of you. I see all. I know all. Your house in the woods will not protect you. Your demon will not defend you. Your magic will not serve you.”

The agony was indescribable. But I dragged myself along the rotten earth, cheek against the dirt, fingernails clawing for grip.

“It’s all in your head,” I said, again and again, even though my throat was so raw. “It can’t stop you. It’s just in your head.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. I willed myself to feel the heaviness of my body, like trying to force myself to awaken from a dream. I kept searching for that silver light, glimmering, beckoning me closer.

Suddenly, with a gasp, I ripped away from my father’s hand. I lost my footing, fell hard on my side, and lay there gasping, shaking in horror.

My father’s steps pounded across the floor, rattling my head. He crouched beside me, gathering me into his arms.

My shaking stopped. I went as still as a rabbit striving not to be seen, frozen in the gaze of a predator as he held me close. I could smell his cologne, the powdery scent of detergent on his clothes, the slight whiff of the scotch he’d drank before coming here.

And rot. Salt water and mold. The God clung to him like a noxious cloud.

Did it cling to me too? Was I already infected, already claimed, as the Deep One insisted?

Was there no way out for me?

“There, there, my precious girl. I know it’s overwhelming.” My father’s hand stroked my hair, his voice low and soothing. “Your mother reacted in the same way. She would want you to pursue the joy of a world made new.”

I could only nod. Anything to make him believe me.

His words quickened excitedly. “Things are already set in motion. The first sacrifice has been made, and the second will arrive soon. Raelynn Lawson is returning to Abelaum. You must meet her. The God must look upon her. It must see.” The way he grasped me seemed frantic, so unlike his usual mannerisms. Like he was desperate. Like he was afraid. “It must see that we will not fail.”

18

Callum

Lucifer was coming for me. Of that, I had no doubt. So apart from watching cautiously from a distance, I stayed away from Everly until that night.

She slept for hours, through the morning and into the evening, regaining her strength. Her dreams were fitful, but I nudged my energy against her mind, calming her swirling thoughts.

She didn’t wake until her sister pounded on her door, informing her that the family was going out for the evening and would return late.

“Better not go running off again,” her sister said. Everly managed to play nice and keep her mouth shut, but as her sister departed, there was a distinct scent of something burning in the air.

Waiting until her family departed in their large, shiny vehicles, I occupied myself with fantasies of their deaths. Ripping them limb from limb, scattering their entrails, and fucking my witch in the remains. Everly would look gorgeous bathed in the blood of her enemies, and these people she lived with were enemies indeed.

Once the others were gone, I returned to her bedroom window.

The moment her family departed, she scurried to the kitchen, gathering food like a squirrel stashing nuts for the winter. Fruit, bags of chips, a bowl of soup, and a plethora of cookies.

Perhaps her family was not providing her with enough food. The urge to chase them down and kill them nearly overtook me once more.

Patience, old boy, patience.They’d get what was coming to them.

Slowly, I eased the window open. She didn’t even notice as I crawled through the window onto her bed. She was seated at her desk with a small canvas before her, which she carefully drew her paintbrush across before popping a grape into her mouth.

I didn’t want to scare her. Most demons had a little psychic power and could influence the brains of other living things to experience certain sensations, so I reached out and nudged her mind, as I had the previous night.

Her body jerked, and she scrambled up from her seat, clapping her hand over her mouth to hold in her scream when she noticed me standing behind her.

Well. So much for not scaring her.

“Oh my God…” She uncovered her mouth. “I thought you were…shit…”

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